A Step to Redemption: A Miniseries
by daveshan
Summary: A family of former Magma operatives hiding in Sinnoh are about to have their lives pushed to the limit as Team Galactic threatens their home in Celestic Town. Being hunted, will they watch it burn? Flee to a new haven? Or reveal their past and fight?
1. Secret Lives

**Intro:**

**Welcome, dear readers, to _A Step to Redemption_. This story takes us through a brief episode in the lives of a family of former Team Magma operatives. Now living in the quiet Celestic Town, this family wears the guise of a simple, poor family and keeps their secret from the populace as well as the newest members of the family, Tyler and his chimchar.**

**Their routine trials to make ends meet soon become disrupted, however, when Team Galactic makes their presence known and starts stirring up trouble. Will the family let their town be destroyed? Will they run again? Or will they expose themselves in order to save their new home and family?**

**These answers and the sins of their past will be answered in the miniseries: _A Step to Redemption_.**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------**

Chapter 1: Secret Lives

A sharp stream of fire struck metal as a man held it steady with large tongs. His eyes, though covered by dark goggles kept track of every inch of the metal as it began glowing. Carefully and surely, he rotated it and allowed every side to evenly absorb the fire that came from his black dog. Soon, the metal began to dip and loose its shape. "Alright, Houndoom, that's enough." With that, the dog immediately ceased the blaze and calmly sat.

"Good boy. Arcanine, hammer." The man held out his left hand as a large orange dog with tiger stripes dropped the tool out of her mouth. The man placed the red hot metal into an appropriate mold and began striking it repeatedly. Sparks flew everywhere.

The sparks struck his thick black gloves. They landed on the red suit that covered his slightly tanned skin. They jumped onto his red hood, which protected his short brown hair and the top of the large scar that dipped down his back. Some sparks fell onto his red pants and black boots. However, none of the sparks hit his flesh.

With a final strike, he finished. "Torkoal, bring me the water barrel. Charizard, this's the last one! Head back to Celestic Town and tell…" he gave a disgruntled sigh. "… Madeline to call Mrs. Jansh that her order is cooling and she can pick it up by tomorrow morning!" His fire dragon nodded from outside the stone structure that served as a metallurgy shop, spread his wings, and gave flight down the mountain.

The man dipped the metal into a barrel that lay strapped to the black shell of his orange turtle. "It's been over three years and it still kills me to call her that."

"Koal," his turtle muttered while Arcanine stared out a window.

"Hound. Doom, hound." the black dog barked.

"Yeah, yeah. Karma's a witch with a capital 'B' and at least I have this shack up here where no one can hear me rant!" He pulled out the tool and set it aside to dry. Grabbing another piece of metal and selecting the appropriate mold, he held it in front of Houndoom's mouth.

"Another order, boy."

The black dog shot another stream of fire. The man stood back as the fumes of the smelting shot out the hole in the roof thanks to the wind tunnel between it and the open window.

***

With his majestic wings spread, Charizard flew further and further down the foggy cliffside and towards the small town below. The town's quiet neighborhoods and small business section became more and more distinct as the fire dragon descended. With each passing moment, the main street and all the important buildings that called it home grew and grew. Even the large, ancient crater in the middle of the city stood out perfectly in the pokemon's eyes.

These splendid sights disappeared from Charizard's vision when he closed in on one of the neighborhoods. Within another second, it landed gracefully on the small lawn of an old, one floor house and growled a pleasant hello to those in its presence. The slow-witted camerupt simply nodded before going back to sleep. The rapidash neighed and resumed eating her straw. The other two present gave him a more cheerful greeting.

"Charizard!" a little boy shouted with glee as he and his chimchar ran up to the dragon. His messy brown hair fell back as both he and the small fire monkey hugged the large lizard's legs.

The orange dragon rubbed them both on their heads as a woman stepped out of the house. "Hey, Charizard!" she yelled out as she brushed her long red hair behind her back. "Is Vincent done with an order?"

"Char!" he nodded and walked closer to her as the boy and chimchar rode on top of his large feet. She handed him a small notebook to flip through and it only took a few moments to find the entry his trainer sent him to confirm.

"Mrs. Jansh, huh? That's great!" She put the notebook back into the pocket of her yellow coat. Staring down cheerfully at the boy and his chimchar, she said, "Tyler, take Chimchar and go clean your room."

"But, mommy! Me and Chimchar want to play with daddy's charizard!"

"Chim!" the fire monkey replied.

"No, 'buts,' Tyler Ploss! I told you I wanted it cleaned by lunchtime and its already 2:00. If everything isn't off that floor in ten minutes, no after-dinner snack for either of you."

Tyler and Chimchar cringed and hurried into the house.

Once she saw the door close, her cheerful expression became solemn and grave. "Give…" she gave a disgruntled sigh and pulled out a piece of paper. "…Vincent this note."

"Rizar?"

She looked away. "It's easier to force myself to in front of Tyler." Turning back towards the dragon, she said, "The money from that order of pipes is running low. We're going to have to start cutting back again."

Charizard gave a slow nod as he took the note and flew off. "God, I wish I could work up there with you." She wrapped her arms around herself and took a quick, deep breath. "It's the only place where we can call each other what we should."

She turned around and walked back in with her head hung low. Closing the door, she found her two macargos curled up next to the fire place and tucked within their rock shells. Next to them, her own torkoal rested peacefully, leaving a spot for her husband's torkoal vacant. "At least some loves don't have to disguise themselves," she simpered as she walked into their small kitchen and looked through the day's mail.

With a groan, she flipped through bill after bill with only random coupon flyers and a bright yellow leaflet to break the cycle. "Huh?" Her eyes caught a bit of the leaflet. "Come, reach your full potential and make a mark in…" Before reading anymore, she tossed it away and picked up the phone to call their customer.

***

"Your total's $47.52, Zack." A balding man with blond hair finished ringing up the price.

"Here you go and thanks." A teen with messy black hair handed over the money and grabbed the four bags of groceries.

"You're welcome. Tell your sister and brother-in-law I said 'Hi.'"

"Will do, Mr. Gev."

"Bye, Zack!" a blonde-haired stock-girl yelled.

"See you later, Beth!" The boy walked out of the small grocery store and grabbed a pokeball off of his belt. "Come on out, Honchkrow." Out of the red and white ball came a three feet tall black rooster whose crown looked like a wizard's hat.

"Krow!" the roster yelled as he expanded his wings.

He placed one bag over the bird's neck. "Time to head home."

"Time?" a deep voice shouted from behind him. "Time is but an illusion that shall soon be wiped away!"

Trainer and pokemon stared at each other bewilderingly. Slowly, he turned around. "What are you-?"

"I am speaking the truth!" Before him, a man with green hair in a white and black jumpsuit held a brown book in his face. "Time is but an illusion, my boy."

"Um… I'm not your boy." He backed away slowly. "Who are you anyway?"

The man lowered the book to reveal a yellow 'G' etched into the torso of his suite. "I am Seth Grands, High Grunt of Team Galactic!"

He and his Honchkrow cringed. "Team…" he whispered to himself. His black roster flapped up in between Seth and his trainer.

"Remove this heretical bird, boy! Remove him, I say!" The man's shouting attracted the attention of five other people in white and black jumpsuits. They threw out several pokeballs to call out various small pokemon.

"Honchkrow!" his trainer barked. The black bird calmed himself down and stood beside his trainer. "Look, I'm sorry for my pokemon's behavior. I don't want any trouble, just would like to get home."

"Not yet!" Seth yelled, regaining his composure. "We need something valuable from you!"

"I don't have anything you want." A crowd began to gather around the scene of pokemon.

"Ah, but you do. You all do!" He pointed to the circle of people that surrounded them. "You all waste your valuable lives and energy doing nothing! Tell me, when was the last time you and your honchkrow accomplished something great? When was the last time you grabbed the victory of a league championship? When was the last time you saved a continent? When was the last time you looked your reflection in its eyes and said 'This life is exactly how I want it'?"

"Gotta give you that last one," he mumbled.

"You see?" Seth shouted. "All of you! If you wish to make a difference, make an immortal mark on this world, I can teach you how! All of Team Galactic can help you fulfill your destiny and make the world a better place!"

Those final words made the boy's blood boil and two pokeballs shot open. A charizard and a black imp stood beside the teen and his honchkrow. "SHUT UP!" he roared. "…or my weavile'll cut you open and Charizard'll burn your remains!"

Seth paused as he stared curiously, observing the boy. "Do I know you?" he whispered to himself. A cough from one of his followers brought him back to reality. "Are you threatening me?" he asked without skipping a beat. Gasps and mummers came from the crowd. "Resorting to physical violence when I only wish to help you? My boy, you need the guiding force of-!"

"Weavile, night slash!"

The imp's claws glowed black. He dashed in and swung, but a brown rabbit jumped in the way and took the blow. "Buneary!" it yelled as it collapsed.

"Zack stop this!" Mr. Gevr yelled as he pushed through the crowd.

Weavile halted and waited as his trainer glared into Seth's eyes.

"Zack, I said stop this! I won't have fighting in front of my store."

"Weavile, return," he sighed in defeat. A red beam came out of the ball and struck the black imp. Converting him into a cluster of red energy, it sucked him into the ball. "You too, Charizard." The orange dragon's pokeball mimicked Weavile's.

"Now the boy shows cowardice after hurting an innocent buneary!"

"And you!" Mr. Gevr pointed at Seth. "We don't want any of Team Galactic's poison in Celestic Town! This is a peaceful place where people are free to stay and enjoy or leave in search of more! You are not needed so get off of my property!"

Seth stared at the middle-aged man as the others in white and black jumpsuits awaited their orders. "Man cannot own property. The world and everything in it belongs to everyone in it." Sirens became audible in the distance. "However," he said with a sigh, "we have shown these good people some of Team Galactic…" He stared forward with daggers. "…and what a person without such traits is like." With that, the six Galactics turned and calmly walked away.

Following their departure, the crowd dispersed. Murmuring and pointing fingers as they left.

"Glad you got rid of those jerks.

"Ugh… Zack, what did you do?" Mr. Gerv pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What? Nothing! Honest, I didn't start a thing!"

"Oh, sure. You needed to call out your charizard and weavile to deal with third rate pokemon. Obviously, it was because your honchkrow couldn't take care of all of them himself."

"Do you know what he was talking about?" he shot back. "He was trying to recruit people for a crime syndicate!"

From behind Mr. Gerv, Beth picked up the bags of groceries on the ground and handed them to the teen. "Here you go… and I think you did the right thing."

"Beth Gerv, go back inside. Zack, go home. Your sister and her husband aren't going to like what you did."

His blood froze. "Y… you called them?"

The old store clerk nodded. "Better get home and face the punishment A.S.A.P. By the way, the Misses and I would like our lawn mowed this weekend. If you need $10 come over Saturday by 11:30."

He heaved a sigh. "Alright, I'll be there." Honchkrow lifted off and he Grabbed onto the bird's talons. "This is not going to be good at all, buddy."

***

Standing out on her front lawn, wearing her yellow jacket, a woman with long red hair stood with her arms crossed, her foot tapping, and a harsh look in her eyes. Beside her, her loyal ninetales sat with an equally fierce expression.

"Mommy?" The timid voice came from behind her in the front doorway. "Why are you and ninetales so mad?"

"It's nothing you did, sweetie," she replied without turning around. "It's what your uncle Zack did. Daddy and I need to talk to him in private at daddy's work shop."

"Does this mean I get to have-!"

"No, it does not mean you get to have cookies for dinner. Ninetales will be in charge and we won't be gone long enough to miss supper."

"Phooey." Tyler and Chimchar both grumbled just before they heard a flapping noise in the distance.

His mother glanced up and saw her brother and his honchkrow slowly approaching. Her fierce glare kept its intensity as he came closer. Became more vicious as the bird descended. And turned into a look of death when he landed with a timorous posture and expression.

"H… hey, Madeline…" He held out the bags. "I got the groceries."

"Ninetales, Tyler, Chimchar, please take the groceries from uncle Zack and Honchkrow and put them away." Obediently, the three took the four sacks of groceries and stepped inside.

"Madeline, I can exp-!"

"Call out your charizard, we're going up."

"But I can-!"

"Call out your charizard. We. Are. Going. Up." With a shiver, her brother called out his fire dragon. "Climb on." She jumped on the pokemon's back.

"I'm coming." He recalled Honchkrow and followed his sister. "Alright, girl, take us to…" he gave a disgruntled sigh. "…Vincent's workshop."

"Char!" she grunted and took flight.

***

"Arizard!"

Inside a two-room stone hut, the shed's owner immediately ceased forging his newest tool and held his hammer and metal tongs tightly. He cut the water barrel off of his torkoal's back and ordered his pokemon into specific positions. Each one followed his orders while he pressed his back against the wall that stood right next to the door.

"Give the 'ok,' Charizard. Please, please, give the 'ok.'" Tense moments passed. Soon, his flying pokemon let out two ember attacks followed by a flamethrower and a firespin.

All present gave sighs of relief as they relaxed their stances.

"Knock. Knock," came a sharp female voice.

"That doesn't sound like a social visit. Arcanine, Houndoom, go make sure everything's clear. Torkoal, stand guard outside." His black dog faded away while his tiger-striped canine sped out the door. "Come on in!"

As the two dogs patrolled the mountainside on land, sniffing around for anything out of place, the two fire dragons flew about the sky and the man's turtle stood outside the door as a sentry.

"We've got a situation," a woman with red hair and a yellow jacket said as she walked in followed by her brother.

"You didn't need to bring Tyler up here, how bad could it be?"

"Hang on, we'll wait until we get the all-clear."

"Uh oh."

They waited in silence. The youngest present fidgeted incessantly while his older sister stood with angry poise and his brother-in-law leaned back against his work table. The howls and blasts of fire that came from dozens of yards away made him sweat.

"So, what's the problem, Flannery?" her husband asked.

"Craig started a fight outside Mr. Gerv's store."

Her husband's jaw dropped. "Please tell me you're joking."

"You know we don't joke about this, Dave."

Dave shot up. His face turned red and his fists became so tight the grip could break stone. "CRAIG, DID YOU GO CROBAT-SHIT STUPID! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!"

"I… I'm sorry, Dave. I… it's just that-."

"IT'S JUST THAT WHAT? YOU WANTED TO BE ARRESTED? YOU WANTED THE POLICE TO DO A CHECK? YOU WANTED EVERYONE TO KNOW YOU'RE CRAIG MOORE? THAT YOUR SISTER AND I ARE FLANNERY AND DAVE SCERN? YOU WANTED THE HOENN GOVERNMENT TO SEND EVERY AGENT AND POKEMON HERE? WERE ANY OF THOSE JUST WHAT YOU WANTED?"

Craig began to tear up as his body shivered. "P… p… please, D… D… Dave…"

"DON'T 'PLEASE, DAVE' ME! DO YOU WANT US TO-!"

"Alright!" his wife yelled. "Dave, calm down!" Flannery locked eyes with her husband as his body un-tensed. "Believe me, I'm just as mad as you are. But we still don't know why he did it." She turned to her little brother. "So why did you do it? And it better be a good reason." Craig didn't move or speak. He just stared at Dave. "CRAIG!" she snapped, breaking him out of his stupor.

"Wha… What?"

"Tell us exactly what happened."

He took another look at Dave and gulped. "He was talking about getting people to join a crime syndicate."

All the tension in Dave's body disappeared. "A crime syndicate?"

"Yeah, Team Galactic."

Flannery raised an eyebrow. "I thought they did good for communities and cities."

Her brother shook his head. "The way he was talking. Making the world a better place… This way is wrong… Join us to improve your lives… I swear, it was like you could throw an Aqua or a Magma in his spot." He saw Dave's face turn pale. His sister pulled herself close to her husband. "It just reminded me so much that-."

"That's alright, Craig." Flannery's voice shook. "I'm sorry I overreacted." She nudged Dave.

"I'm sorry, too. Honestly."

Craig looked back and forth. "So what do we do?"

Dave looked down and huffed. "What did you do to them? You got into a fight. Who and how many got hurt?"

"None of the trainers. Just a buneary."

Another tense moment filled the room before Dave said, "Stay home for the next few days. We'll have to miss out on the money your jobs would have brought in but that's the price."

"What?" Craig shouted. "No way! I was willing to stand up to Russell and Wallace just three years ago! I am not backing down from some grunts!"

Flannery crossed her arms. "This isn't up for discussion and this isn't a matter of power. We need to stay hidden and out of people's minds. Understand?"

He sighed. "I understand."

She beamed a smile and ruffled his hair. "Good. Now, let's all go back down and get dinner ready. Even with ninetales there, I don't trust Tyler to be alone for so long with cookies."

"Alright," Dave laughed. "You guys head down, I'll tidy things up and meet you there. But…" He smirked. "… before I do." Craig rolled his eyes and stepped out.

His wife embarrassingly smiled. "Dave, no. You're all sweaty and filthy." Ignoring her protests he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. Without so much as a protest, she pulled him closer and returned the kiss.

"I love you, Mr. Dave Scern."

"I love you too, Mrs. Flannery Scern."

Their kiss resumed and held as they entered the second room of the stone shack, which lay empty except for a worn cot.

***

Miles east of Celestic Town, in a secret base under _The Café Cabin_, several members of Team Galactic gathered. Seth Grands stood not among the bulk of them, but at the west end of the base. In front of him, he put a sophisticated computer to work solely for the purpose of analyzing images of the teenager with messy black hair he dealt with earlier that day. "I know I've seen your face before, boy. Where?"

"Maybe it was just a random passing in the streets, High Grunt Grands," an underling suggested.

"No, Grunt Weltsa," he said to the young brunette. "I know I saw him somewhere important."

"You read lots of news all the time. Maybe he was in a paper for a bit interview. Something like: Local boy says 'this' about 'event.'"

After the computer cycled through the images again, Seth turned off the machine and pulled out a drawer. "No matter, we'll return to Celestic Town tomorrow and find out one way or another." He began clipping select pokeballs onto his belt.

"But, sir, Commander Mars expressly forbade the use of force on this mission. She said that it's very important Team Galactic has good relations with Celestic Town."

"Oh, we will, we will. Don't worry." He grabbed a yellow and black ultraball. "But, I need to be prepared for whatever that kid's connected to."

**----------------------------------------------------------**

**Where did Seth Grands see Craig? What happened in the past that led a gym leader, her brother, and the man she loves to run to Sinnoh? And what is in that ultraball?**

**Stay tuned to _A Step to Redemption_ to find out.**

**In the meantime, drop some comments and reviews.**


	2. Risking Promulgation

**Chapter 2 has arrived and the third is in the works. Here, we'll get a brief view into the past as well as the foreshadowing of the first major fight scene.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Risking Promulgation

Dave Scern dropped his bowl into the drying rack. "It's been two days,…" He gave a disgruntled sigh. "… Vincent, and they haven't found him yet." Slowly, he walked through his small house towards a room that his son and brother-in-law shared. "Knock, knock."

"Go away," came a sneer.

Opening the door slowly, Dave found his brother-in-law sprawled out on his bed, tossing a pokeball up and down in the air. The scowl on Craig's face told Dave he wanted to be alone. "Just hold out until Monday. Lose today, lose tomorrow, then you should be in the clear."

"Easy for you to say. You aren't grounded for doing the right thing! You aren't stuck being useless when your family is going broke! You aren't under the order of your slowpoke of a brother-in-law!"

Dave sighed. "You're right, I'm not. What I am, is someone who 'has a good intuition' about how a crime syndicate thinks. I am the person who's responsible for you. I am the person who would very willingly fight off the army of an entire continent for you, your sister, my son, and all of our pokemon. Though, like any law-abiding citizen, I hope I'll never have a reason to."

Craig stared at the ceiling and tossed his weavile's pokeball up and down. "I was supposed to have made $24 by now. Mr. Gerv was going to pay me $10 more to mow his lawn."

"Beth will be around Monday."

He caught his pokeball and clamped his hand down. "Not everything has hidden meanings, Vincent! I like helping our family have money! I like that a week of doing odd jobs can get us food!"

"…But you won't be around on Monday if you don't stay hidden." His brother-in-law bit his lip. "I know what'll happen if you go to the Gerv's."

"No, you don't."

"Did I ever tell you the time a friend of mine lost his skarmory while we were out 'hunting'?"

"Maybe." Craig crossed his arms. "You've told me so many stories, it's hard to keep track."

Dave grabbed a hoodie off the floor and threw it. "Put that on, we're going up."

***

"…and now Tyler's upside down!" Flannery playfully yelled as she held her son up by his feet in their backyard. The boy laughed and giggled while his chimchar jumped and clapped his hands on top of his mother's lazy camerupt. "Now Tyler's right side up! And now Tyler's upside down!"

"Hahahaha!" Tyler cracked open his eyes. "Daddy! Uncle Zack! Help me! Mommy's got me!"

"Uncle Zack…?" Flannery stopped flipping her son.

"Uh oh," Dave mocked. "I guess that means daddy'll have to save you." Grabbing Tyler from his wife, he spun him around and let him hug him. "But… Oh no!"

"Oh no, what?"

Dave put on a mischievous smile. "I'm on mommy's side!" He dipped Tyler. "One… two…" He tossed him into the air. "…meatballs!" He caught his laughing son and dipped him down again. "One… two…" He tossed his son. "…purple!" When He caught him again, Flannery grabbed Dave's shoulder. "Alright, big guy," Dave put him down and ruffled his hair.

After Tyler's moans and complaints finished, Flannery whispered, "Where are you taking him?"

"To the workshop. There's a story he needs to hear."

"I thought you were going out looking for customers. You finished your last order yesterday."

He looked into her eyes and smiled an empty smile. "I know. Believe me, I know. But this is more important and it'll only take twenty minutes."

Flannery took a breath and nodded. "Zack, leave your charizard here." Her brother, with his head buried under a hood, tossed her a pokeball. "Ok. Twenty minutes and not a second more."

Dave smiled and called out his own charizard. "Alright, boy, you're taking two up."

"Char!" He roared as they climbed on.

"You ready?"

Craig nodded, "Ready."

"Then let's go!" At his trainer's word, Charizard expanded his wings and slowly flapped them until he rose from the ground. Then he shot like a bullet into the air.

***

_A young Dave Scern, wearing the red and black attire of a Team Magma grunt, sped through a forest. To his right, two other Magma grunts ran with him._

"_Scern, burn through that fence up ahead," the slightly bulky boy farthest to his right ordered._

"_Sure, Alex. And then I'll set off everyone's alarm clock to make sure they know we're here. Just fly us over."_

"_Idiot, their cameras'll spot that easier."_

"_Both of you, shut it," the lean young grunt in the middle ordered. They continued running. "Dave, have Vulpix dig a hole under the fence. Alex, you and I are going to make a fake leaf storm."_

"_Gotcha."_

"_Ok, Vick."_

_The three stopped at the edge of the forest and pinned their backs to trees. Thirty yards away a barbed wire fence stood in the half-moon light. On more than one metal stake, night-vision cameras silently swayed back and forth. Alex grumbled inaudibly._

_Vick caught the others' attention with a wave and a whisper. "Pokemon out on three… two… one… now."_

_Four pokeballs shot open the moment the cameras pointed away from them. Before the three trainers stood a steel bird, a grass brontosaurus, a small fire fox, and a feminine grass gnome._

"_Alex," Vick whispered, "get your skarmory to start a small whirlwind and then have it pick up speed. Your tropious and my roselia will shoot a lot of razor leaves gently until there's one slapped against each camera. Dave, head over there," Vick pointed several dozen yards away. "and have Vulpix dig a tunnel to behind the fence."_

_The trio went into action. The wind of skarmory's attack sent razor sharp leaves flying harmlessly over the camera lenses while Dave's vulpix dug and dug for several minutes until it peaked its head up behind the metal gate. As guards came out to investigate, the fire fox let out a low cooing noise._

"_Everyone in." Trainers recalled pokemon as Vick led the three boys into a hole that they needed to squeeze themselves to crawl through. Alex entered last to pull fake grass over the hole with his feet._

_Inside the tiny underground passage, they tucked their hands in and inched their way, single file, through total darkness. While crawling, they slowed their breathing and clenched their throats whenever dust entered. By practice and good fortune, Vick brought them to Dave's vulpix, who gave him a silent all clear signal and led them up._

_Once on the surface again, Dave recalled his pokemon and they made haste across the grounds. They arrived at an electronic key door, which Alex quickly hacked, and Vick dashed into the large, grey building followed by his teammates. With confidence and precision, they flew through the corridors and stairwells of the building, ducking by each camera with stealth and eventually finding a door marked "Restricted."_

_Vick nodded at Dave and Alex. All three held out two pokeballs; only Vick released one. Out of it came a large, deformed, purple mouse. "Loudred, hyper beam." The three trainers jumped back as huge beam of yellow light blasted through the door._

_Screams came from the other side. The Magma grunts pressed through the smoke. Dave released his torchic and magby while his teammates released their pokemon and attacked. The orange chicken and fire imp blasted targets left and right with streams of fire. Men and women fell to the blaze before they knew what hit them or why._

_The dust cleared with a whirlwind from Alex's skarmory._

_Vick recalled his pokemon. "Alex, guard duty. Dave, your with my on the system. We need the lab's data in five minutes." Dave recalled his pokemon and followed Vick past several corpses towards the central computer system. Alex ordered his skarmory and tropious by the blown open door._

"_Alex, seal the emergency exit too!"_

"_Don't tell me what to do, Scern!"_

"_Then do your damn job!_

"_Both of you, shut it!" Vick began hacking the computer's mainframe. "Make sure the security system notices your hacking."_

"_On it." Dave sloppily hacked a file stored in a different section of the system. "Ok, the protection program's on to me. I can keep it occupied for thirty seconds."_

"_Only need twenty. Go for forty-five."_

_The time passed._

_Dave took a deep breath. "That's time. Silent alarms should be going off."_

"_Good job. Help me watch for disruptions in my data feed."_

"_Yeah, yeah,…" Dave said with a sigh._

"_Something eating you, Scern? You can usually put up with Alex more than this."_

_He took a deep breath. "Can you keep a secret?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_How much do you know about girls?"_

_Vick threw his hand over his own mouth as he laughed. "You've got a crush? On who? Someone in our squad? Is it Debra? No, Isabelle!"_

"_Vick, it's-."_

"_No, I got it! Heather! Man, Sam is not going to let you have his sister that easily."_

"_Vick, it's about Sarah."_

_He snorted. "Sarah? Our head grunt, Sarah?"_

_Dave nodded._

"_She's our leader and 17. That's five years on you. Also, there's her boyfriend. Sorry, you aren't getting her."_

"_That's not it." Dave spoke as he typed. "The other day, I found her shaken up after Elite Admin Jay's announcement. I asked her what the matter was and all she did was cry quietly for like five minutes."_

_Vick looked up from his programming. "What'd she do after the five minutes?"_

"_She just looked at me and told me that there are things that can break a girl's spirit forever. Things that girl'll never get over. Then she hugged me tightly and begged me to promise never to do that." Dave began another program to confuse the system._

"_Did she say anything else?"_

"_She kept saying how his laugh was like a rusty nail scraping a train track. What was she talking about?"_

"_Did you promise her?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Good."_

"_So… what was she talking about?"_

"_Team Magma Grunt Dave Scern." Vick barked._

"_Ye… Yes, 2__nd__ Grunt Vick Zyte?"_

"_It's good that you promised her. Now drop it."_

"_GUYS, WE HAVE COMPANY!"_

"_Crap! Dave, help Alex! Take Quilava!" Vick tossed him a pokeball._

_Dave leapt away from the central computer and towards the battle. Alex's pokemon exchanged razor leaves and steel wings with the beams and mega punches of the guards' glalie, lunatone, and medicham. Releasing Quilava, Torchic, and Vulpix, Dave joined the battle with fire blazing._

_The guard's pokemon doubled their efforts to fight back while the three guards attacked the two boys. The first grabbed Dave by the wrist and pinned him against the wall. "Stop this now, kid, and we'll go easy on- Gahhh!" Alex stabbed him in the side with a broken piece of metal._

_A swift elbow knocked Alex back and knocked out two of his teeth. Dave grabbed the metal and jammed it into the man's throat. The others gasped as he fell. Their pokemon battled again, exchanging blow after blow in a desperate battle. Without the ruthlessness and cunning Dave and Alex ordered from their pokemon, the guards' pokemon fell and they followed. Once the last guard died, the Magma's pokemon panted and heaved. They moved slowly and looked to their trainers._

"_Good job." Dave began recalling his pokemon._

"_Like wise." Alex recalled his tropious and then aimed his skarmory's pokeball, but the beam wouldn't fire. "What the?"_

"_Good mean look. Now, Grimer, thunder!"_

_The three turned in time to see a guard standing in the emergency exit and beside a pile of sludge that launching last thunder Skarmory would ever see._

"So what happened next?" Craig asked from the edge of his seat.

Dave stared at the ceiling of his workshop. "We killed the guard and his grimer." He looked back at Craig. "Do you understand what I'm talking about now? Little mistakes have big consequences."

"Yeah… But there's a difference. Alex was just being lazy. I'm trying to make sure we have food."

"Nobility doesn't lessen consequences."

The teen squeezed his pant legs. "Alright. You win. I'll stay put."

Nodding, Dave rounded up his pokemon and recalled all but Charizard. "Climb aboard."

Craig covered his head with his hoodie and the two mounted the orange dragon. Charizard slowly and heavily flapped his wings before he took off and flew down the mountain.

***

"Zack should be alright now." Dave slipped on a green coat as his son played in the next room with Chimchar. "I told him a story and it's been ten minutes since we heard a peep out of him. I'd say he got the message."

"That's good." Flannery kissed him on the cheek. "I was worried. He's become real agitated since he can't go to the Gerv's today."

"He'll live." He kissed her back. "I'll be back tonight with a…" He knocked on the wood door frame. "…new list of orders."

"Good luck, honey." Flannery closed the door slowly once he departed. "Well, Tyler, it looks like it's just you, me, our pokemon, and uncle Zack."

"Let's play with uncle Zack!"

"Chim! Chim!" The fire monkey clapped his hands.

"Alright, you two." She picked them up and carried the two to Craig and Tyler's room. "Knock, knock." Quietly, Flannery opened the door a crack. She saw a mound curled up underneath blankets. "Oops," she whispered. "Looks like uncle Zack is asleep."

"Mommy?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Did you get a bidoof?"

"Um… no."

He giggled. "Did daddy get a bidoof?"

"I doubt it, no."

His chimchar joined in and began clapping. "Did uncle Zack get a bidoof?"

"No. Honey, what's gotten into you?"

"Because there's a bidoof in my room." Tyler and his fire monkey broke out laughing.

"What?" Flannery immediately put her son and his pokemon down and yelled for Ninetales. She burst open the door only to find a simple, beaver-like pokemon sitting clueless in the middle of the room. She turned to her fire fox. "Hypnosis."

Shooting rays of beta waves from her eyes, Ninetales put the pokemon into a sleep. The white fox sniffed around for anything else and followed her nose underneath Craig's bed frame. She let out a bark as her trainer approached.

"Zack?" Flannery rubbed the blanket. He remained motionless. "Zack!" She ripped off the sheets and found nothing but a husk of pillows and clothes. Her eyes twanged.

She ripped his bed off the ground and exposed a hole in the floor. A hole big enough for a weavile and just barely big enough for a teenager to crawl through. "ZACK!"

***

Hundreds of yards away, Craig Moore popped his head out of the ground and found himself stuck. He turned to his weavile and scowled. "Very funny. Open up the ground."

The black imp snickered as he widened the hole.

"Now I see what makes my brother-in-law so crazy. If I had to that regularly, I'd go nuts."

"eavile."

"Yeah, it won't take her long will it? Beth's house's this way!" Craig broke into a run.

Weavile followed him down the main street and past the large, ancient crater in the middle of the town. They dashed past the small business district where Mr. Gerv's market lay and where many people went about their day. Ducking past the pokemon center and the trainers with injured pokemon that hurried inside, the two made it to the street the Gerv family called home. Hurrying down the road, they stopped in front of a two-story yellow house with a fenced-in yard and uncut grass. The house's owner stood on the front porch with his arms crossed. His daughter sat in a chair beside him with a light blue dog on her lap.

"Hey, Mr. Gerv. Hi, Beth." Craig waved and panted, unaware that a small group of people followed him from the business district.

"Weav. Weav," the black imp concurred as he panted.

Beth simpered. "Hi, Zack."

"Shinx!" Beth's pokemon barked.

The group of people turned the corner onto the street the Gervs lived on.

"What's the matter?" he asked Mr. Gerv, who wore a scowl. "I'm here on time."

"Zack, your sister called. She wants you to wait inside our house."

The people closed in on the Gervs' house.

Craig's face turned pale. "Whoa, whoa! You didn't tell her I was here, did you?"

"She guessed you'd be here."

"You don't know the whole story! I'm just trying to-!"

"I don't care what you are trying to do. Get inside, now."

"Not so fast!" a pompous voice yelled. "I need to talk to this boy!"

The hairs on Craig's neck rose as Beth jumped up and her shinx barked incessantly. Weavile's claws glowed with dark energy as pokemon and trainer turned and stared face-to-face with Seth Grands.

Behind the high grunt, five Galactics gripped their pokeballs. Mr. Gerv broke the tense silence. "Is there something you six want? You've been hovering around my store and the business strip for the past three days."

"And I knew it would pay off," Seth sneered.

"That wasn't an answer to my question."

"You dare interfere with Team Galactic?" In a flash, Seth released a purple and black pig. "Grumpig, shock wave that heretic!" Electricity blasted the old man.

"Daddy!"

"Shinx! Shinx!"

"Mr. Gerv! You bastard!"

"He was getting in the way of our pleasant discussion."

"Sir," Grunt Weltsa whispered. "was that wise? We aren't supposed to harm these people."

Seth glanced at Mr. Gerv clutching his chest and writhing. "He'll be fine."

Craig's teeth clenched. "You have ten seconds to get out of here!"

"Not before we talk, boy. Have we met before? This may be important to our activities."

"NO WE HAVEN'T!" His weavile knelt into an attack stance. "Eight seconds!"

Seth's comrades threw out their pokemon. A machoke, a metang, a vibrava, a buneary, and a purugly appeared on the battle field.

"Well, boy, how about the news? Were you ever in the news before?"

He tensed and tried his best to hold his poise. "NO! Five… I mean six seconds!"

Seth smirked. "Ah, so you have been in the news."

Neighbors peaked out their homes.

"Four!"

"Why were you in the news?"

"Three!" Craig called out Charizard beside Weavile.

"Did you save someone?"

"Two!" The pokemon charged their attacks.

"Did you embarrass yourself?"

"One!"

"Or are you a criminal?"

"Flamethrower! Ice punch!"

* * *

**A battle is on the horizon. Will it end in defeat or victory for young Craig? Will the family secret be discovered? Stay tuned.**


	3. Street Brawl

**Welcome to chapter 3. Today we see into Craig's past as well as Dave's. You'll see a much darker side then the anime and games present, so be warned.**

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Chapter 3: Street Brawl

_Craig Moore, a 13 year old boy anxiously sat outside a hospital door. His white shirt pressed against the sneasel he tightly clutched. "Why didn't they tell me? Why did they keep this from me?"_

"_Sneasel snea." The black imp hugged him back._

"_Do you really want an answer?"_

_Craig glanced up. An old doctor stared back down. "What?"_

"_Do you really want the answer?"_

_He stood, Sneasel hopped down. "Yes!" He grabbed the man's wrists. "Yes, I do!"_

_He shook his wrists free. "They didn't want you involved."_

"_But, I'm their family!"_

"_That's why your sister wanted you to stay out of it. The way Elite Admin Dave Scern looks at you, you might as well be his brother too. Unfortunately, you're in this now."_

"_What do I do?"_

"_Sneasel? Sneasel sel?" The black imp waived his arms._

"_Get tougher, fast. Being the little brother of a traitor gym leader and the soon-to-be brother-in-law of an elite admin won't save you. But you have a nice crew now; a charmeleon, a murkrow, and a sneasel."_

"_Wh… what?"_

"_You'll get some time to adjust to this life, maybe more than most. Also, if Dave or Flannery wants you on a particular mission or for a particular role in your squad, you've got it. But, because you have that protection, you also get harder missions."_

"_What if I don't want to-."_

_The doctor threw his hand over Craig's face. He struggled. Sneasel slashed at the man's arm. The doctor tensed but kept his hand there. "Please stop! I'm doing this for your own good."_

_Craig and his pokemon calmed down. The doctor removed his hand._

"_Do not ever, EVER say what you were about to say or anything like it! Even you will be killed. Just let your sister and her fiancé look out for you, don't boost that they're doing it, and you'll live." The doctor's pager went off. "Err… I have to go. Remember what I said and hopefully, I'll never have to see you in here again."_

_The old man departed, leaving Craig and Sneasel to stare at each other. Before they could say anything, the door across the hall opened. The black imp snarled and Craig grabbed a chair to fight as the most fearsome person they ever met stepped through the door._

_His red hair fell down to his neck as his broad shoulders lay hidden under a black cape. The crisp, crimson uniform he wore amplified the intimidation in his eyes. As his steel black boots moved across the floor with ease, he ignored the boy._

"_You! This is all your-!"_

"_Craig, stop!" Flannery burst through the doorway and caught the chair as her brother swung it, her leg desperately holding back Sneasel. "I'm so, so sorry, Maxie, sir. My brother is under a lot of stress and isn't thinking straight."_

_Maxie just kept walking down the hall._

"_Damn, it Craig! What the hell were you thinking?"_

_Craig and Sneasel glared at her. "What the hell were YOU thinking? How could you get us involved in this?"_

_Flannery slowly sat down and put her head in her hands. Her many ponytails dripped over her face. "I had to because of Dave."_

"_Are you serious? I'm going to kill that-!"_

"_No! It's not like that! When Dave killed our grandfather and saved me, he let me decide. He let me decide everything. If I picked to leave, he would leave..." She motioned her head about the room. "We'd take you with us and he'd fight them all off. If I decided to stay, we'd have a perfect life if Magma wins, but we'll be living in Hell if Aqua does."_

_She sighed and looked at her brother. "What staying also meant was that I could keep you out of this. Whether Magma won or lost, if you weren't involved, at least you'd be safe."_

_***_

"…_at least you'd be safe." His sister's words fueled him as he fought Team Aqua grunts. Boys and girls his age fell at his pokemon's hands and to his orders. All throughout the weather station, he heard the sounds of battle and the saw the sights of death. Red Red jackets covered half the corpses in the room while blue bandannas and striped shirts covered the other half._

"_Craig, duck!"_

_The boy shot his head down as several spikes of ice flew over him. He felt a sudden jerk on his neck and then it disappeared. Patting his head, he turned and found an icicle pinning the hood of his uniform to a wall._

_He released his charmeleon and ordered her flamethrower. Through cross fire and rubble, her attack struck his foe's cloyster. Craig and Charmeleon hurried in as the purple clam launched an ice beam._

"_Flamethrower!" Charmeleon's blaze blocked the beam. Craig tackled the Aqua grunt._

_The orange lizard and purple clam fought with random attacks as their trainers traded blow for blow. Craig struck his foe in the jaw. His foe came back with a kick to the side. Craig threw his own kick to the ribs. The Aqua head butted him in the face and followed with a series of punches. Craig countered with a knee to the gut._

_As the Aqua staggered, Craig swung a haymaker that knocked him to the ground. He jumped on top of the boy and started choking the life out of him. Then the foes got a close look at each other._

"_Craig? Craig… Moore?" the Aqua gasped._

"_Mitchell Fazner?" Craig relaxed his grip. "Good God." Images of swinging on a swing set and playing tag after school flooded Craig's mind. He slowly removed his hands from Mitchell's throat and turned to order Charmeleon to stop._

_When he turned, he saw Mitchell's hand swinging a sharp rock. Craig grabbed the arm with only moments to spare. As he wrestled with it, Mitchell choked him. The Aqua put everything into the attack. Craig felt his life slipping away. Then a stream of fire struck Mitchell from behind._

"_At least you'd be safe."_

_The boy lost his grip and Craig broke free. He stole the stone from Mitchell's hand and drove it into the Aqua's skull. As his foe fell, he ordered a finishing blow to the cloyster. Once the clam slipped into unconsciousness, Craig and Charmeleon re-entered the fray, backing up the other Magmas and keeping Flannery's words in his mind._

Charizard's fire blazed into the cluster of pokemon. The vibrava and purugly blasted back with dragon breath and thunderbolt but caught the tail end of the flame. The machoke took the night slash in the forearm and tossed Weavile to the ground.

Buneary bounced into the air and aimed at Charizard as grumpig and metang attacked with twin invisible psychic blasts. The orange dragon braced herself. As the blows struck, she slammed the ground. The earthquake shook all but the buneary who stuck from above.

Weavile cut into Machoke with an aerial ace. The blue fighter countered with a powerful cross chop that sent the imp flying into a random window. Machoke and Grumpig burst into the house after him.

"Weavile!" Craig threw out his honchkrow. "Charizard, body slam! Honckrow, faint attack!"

"Sir, this isn't wise," Grunt Weltsa whispered. "We are invading and damaging private property. This is against Elite Admin Mars's orders."

"Silence! The boy has defied and questioned the guiding force of Galactic! Men, attack!"

Inside the house, Weavile desperately ducked and weaved as the machoke threw his fists and the grumpig blasted shock waves. The house residence screamed and held their young close. The black imp took blows bit by bit. Inside, he couldn't maneuver well. He made a dart for the streets.

Honchkrow struck Buneary and turned invisible again. Vibrava recovered from Charizard's slam and ripped up the ground to send rocks sliding. The dragon darted into the air as Craig ducked and rolled. Metang prepared another psychic. Honchkrow attacked it before it could fire.

Before the black crow could fade again, Purugly attacked with thunderbolt. Shocked and paralyzed, Honchkrow fell to the metang's bullet punch.

Charizard blasted fire at Metang. The machine let out a metal roar until Vibrava created a sandstorm. The pebbles absorbed the fire and pelted everything on the street. Windows broke and they scraped away house siding. The dragon dove in and scooped her trainer onto her back. She rose just above the houses.

Craig recalled Honchkrow. Weavile used an ice punch on Vibrava only to be struck from behind by a shock wave. The imp quickly faded before another attack fired. Charizard glowed orange and the sandstorm faded. As the sand fell, air molecules bounded together and created a magnifying effect for the sun's rays. Weavile struck machoke and disappeared as Charizard's flamethrower knocked the fighter out.

"Another sand storm quickly!" Seth yelled. "Grumpig, focus blast!"

Vibrava began flapping his little wings. Purugly fell to Charizard's flamethrowers. Weavile appeared to strike Vibrava. Before the imp could attack, Grumpig blasted concentrated power out of his fist. The focus blast struck and knocked Weavile unconscious. Another sand storm began and unbounded the air molecules.

Metang and Grumpig launched invisible psychic attacks at Charizard. The orange dragon roared in pain before she fell from the air.

Seth pointed towards a house. "Vibrava fire a hyper beam there!"

Craig held on tight to his pokemon as the people in the home screamed and cowered. A large yellow beam fired and, just as planned, the attack struck Charizard in the spot she hit the ground.

"Charizard…," Craig moaned.

"CRAIG!" Beth and her shinx ran into the maelstrom of dust and pebbles.

"Restrain her! Die down the sandstorm!" Two of the Galactics caught Beth by her shoulders. Vibrava ended his sandstorm and caught Shinx in a sand tomb.

Seth made his way across the street and onto the property where Craig and Charizard lay motionless. The residence of the home timidly stepped back as he grabbed the boy by the collar. "I was going to make this simple, heretic, but you forced me to do this." Craig could barely keep his eyes open. "Where do I, a holy soldier of Team Galactic, know you fro-?"

"Ahhh!" "Garrr!" "Uhhhhh!" "Rava!" "Meta!" "PIGGG!"

Seth spun his head. In the middle of a mess of collapsed grunts and pokemon stood a snarling tiger striped canine. From down the street, a man with brown hair, a scar running down his back, and a green jacket roared, "Let him go, NOW!"

_Dave Scern stared across the room. Ten squads of Magmas stood at his back, ready and waiting to engage the Team Aqua grunts and the admin that led them._

"_So, my old friend, Dave Scern, finally got promoted." The Aqua admin brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. His followers behind him clutched their pokeballs, but nothing more. "And at the tender age of 18. Sounds like someone I know."_

"_Why thank you, Jose Diverentio." Dave bowed his head ever so slightly as his eyes shot from side to side. "I owe it all to you. I'll admit my tactics aren't as top notch as other admins. For some reason, though, I can always see through the mind of the proclaimed Genius of Aqua."_

"_So, Maxie promoted you because you are the only non-elite admin who can go against me on even terms? I am flattered but also surprised. I guess I'm just used to Archie having higher standards."_

_The Aquas snickered as the Magmas became edgy. Dave held out his hand and they held their poise. "Enough banter. I don't know why you came to this museum and I don't care why you took so many hostages." He thumbed to a corner of the room where four Aqua grunts and their pokemon kept fancy-dressed patrons huddled together on the ground with their hands on their heads._

"_Your point, Dave?"_

"_Leave whatever you've taken so far, don't take anything else, and get out of here. Do that and we won't harm you." He glanced at the base of a statue of an ancient boat. "We'll even clean up those two dead bodies for you."_

_Jose pondered his offer. "As much as I'd love to play a large role in popping your admin cherry, you make a fair offer. Very well, we will depart." Grunts from both sides stared at him. "The police are on their way, slow as usual. Taking the time to defeat you will leave us weak by the time they arrive. So, we shall leave the bad taste in your mouth. Aquas, depart!"_

"_But, sir!" a young Aqua grunt spoke out. His admin grabbed a pokeball. "He killed my brother! We can wi-!" A red blur zoomed by him. "Gahh!"_

_Jose recalled his scizor as the grunt fell with a slit throat. "Could you clean that up too?"_

"_Sure."_

_No sooner did he answer, then dozens of smoke bombs exploded. When everything cleared the only blue uniform left belonged to the dead grunt. Dave shouted, "I want thunder waves thirty seconds ago! Mightyena and houndooms, NOW! Look for a bomb, anything! Kill the cameras and get the tapes!"_

_Pokemon of all types launched thunder waves up and down the walls and across the floors and ceilings._

"_Cameras are already killed, sir!"_

"_No bombs, sir! The building's clean!"_

"_Sir, my men report the tapes are gone and the security system is completely disabled!"_

_Dave rubbed his chin. He looked over at the hostages still cowering and motioned for a blonde, female high grunt._

"_Yes, Admin Scern?"_

"_You're good cop, Debra." He led her over to the hostages._

"_LISTEN UP!" The socialites cringed. "Jose isn't stupid or a coward! He got what he wanted already! What did he take?" No one said a word. They all sat terrified and shaking. "We're getting this, one way or another!" Out of two pokeballs came a charmeleon and a ninetails. Debra gripped a ball on her belt._

"_Talk or people start dying!" No one spoke out. "Charmeleon, flamethrower!"_

_The hostages cried out as charmeleon launched a blaze. With only a moment to spare, a floating clay statue took the attack and shielded them._

"_Jesus, Dave!" Debra shouted. "My claydol and I can't stop you every time you blow your fuse like this!" Calmly, she knelt down beside a young man and removed her hood, letting her shiny, soft hair fall gracefully past her neck._

_She smiled and brushed some of her hair away from her eyes. "I'm really sorry he did that." Her eyes glanced down and then back at him. "But he needs to know and he's like a big brother to me. I hate seeing him so high strung."_

"_I… under… stand."_

_Her smile widened. "Thank you."_

"_That g… guy. The aqua admin."_

_Dave marched forward, scaring the boy. "What about Jose?"_

_The young man cringed as Debra shot up and put herself between Dave and him. "He didn't take anything! Honest!"_

"_You expect me to believe that?" His eyes shot daggers. "Oh, I get it. You're a sleeper for Aqua. You're what Jose left behind!" Dave turned to his pokemon. "Ninetales, swift!"_

"_NO!" a woman screamed. "No! Don't kill my boy!" She hugged him tightly and turned to Debra. "Please, stop him! All the Admin did was walk over to where he was standing when you walked in! Honest, that's all he did! The high grunts kept us huddled here!"_

_Dave crossed his arms. "Say I believe you. What direction did he come from?" The woman motioned her head towards the opposite wall. He walked over to the entrance that Jose used. "Any twists or turns?" he demanded._

"_N… no! Just straight through!"_

_Dave mimicked Jose's path, eying everything. He walked past maps of the undersea world, fossils, and an ancient scroll. Before he got to where he found Jose, he stopped at a painting. It depicted a crew inside the very first undersea vessel. Dave read the caption underneath the painting._

"_Cazzon de Fross, painted 'Return from the Depth' with incredible accuracy. He kept the entire crew in the moldy vessel the second it emerged from the waves. All present had to remain absolutely still for the hours it to too paint this masterpiece." He looked up. "There!" He pointed to a tiny piece of mold in the picture. "Bastard must have glanced at this for less then second. Spent the rest of time as a diversion."_

_He glanced about the room. All of his men stood ready for his next order. "You five! I want all of you taking pictures of this thing from every angle! Get the tags and the museum's descriptions! Which high grunts have pokemon with water or ice attacks?" Several stepped forward. "Release them!"_

_Out of pokeballs came a rhydon, an absol, and a miltank. At a wave of Dave's hand, the other high grunts formed a perimeter around all the hostages. He recalled Charmeleon and Ninetales. Debra stepped back, still smiling at the boy._

"_Kill them all."_

_The powerful blasts of water and storms of bone-shattering ice drowned out the screaming. As quickly as it began, the attacks ended._

"_Everyone out!"_

_***_

"_Um, Dave? Can I ask you something?" a grunt with dyed blue hair asked as the force of Magmas fled through the forest._

"_Go ahead, Razek."_

"_Why'd you let Aqua go but waste fire power on those hostages? Show and I were hoping for a battle."_

"_You're an idiot."_

"_Maybe if you'd finally promote me I'd learn some advanced stuff."_

"_Not for that. You don't care about losing your… Never mind. We've been having this talk since I was your head grunt. The reason why I killed the hostages is so people will think Aqua did it and be mad at them."_

"_Why not have people know we saved them?"_

"_For more troops. People might support what they favor, but they'll definitely take action against what they hate." _

"_Is this what you were telling me about during that mission at Fallarbor?"_

_Dave turned to the 15 year old and smiled. "Yup. It's not what happened, it's what appeared to have happened."_

"Who do you think you are?" Seth spat.

"His brother-in-law!" Dave came closer, glaring at Seth with a killer's eyes. "I'm not going to say this again!"

"I won't listen then, either!" He grabbed a pokeball. "Go, hitmonchan! Mach punch!"

As sooner as the brown boxer appeared, he struck Arcanine with a powerful jab.

"Now, thunder pun-!"

"Dodge! Extremspeed!"

His electric fist couldn't hit air before a blur struck him and sent him flying down the street. Only scrapping against concrete stopped him. Hitmonchan staggered up slowly only to feel fiery jaws around his neck.

Dave counted to two. "Let him go, girl!"

Arcanine dropped her foe the exact moment the flames burned into his throat.

As Hitmonchan fell, the ex-Magma stared at the Galactic. "You're next."

Seth stared back. "I know you too, don't I?"

"Doubt it. I remember who my customers are and I'm not that social. Arcanine!" He motioned his head towards Seth and Craig.

"Go, Probopass!" A floating rock head formed in front of him. "Let's see your physical attacker get through him!"

Arcanine disgruntledly lowered her head as Dave recalled her. "Go, Houndoom!" When the black dog appeared beside him, he knelt down and whispered, "We have to fake this. You know what I need you to do."

"Doom..." his dog moaned. "DOOM!" he roared.

"Houndoom, faint attack!"

Houndoom faded from sight as Seth laughed.

"I will not be caught by that again! Earthquake!"

"Destiny bond!"

As the ground shook and the homes around Seth collapsed, Houndoom glowed black from the middle of the road and purposely tensed every muscle in his body. The shockwaves ripped through the demon canine as Probopass glowed with the same black aura. When the shock passed, both pokemon fell.

People in the homes cried and screamed to get out as dust flew everywhere. Dave recalled his houndoom and ran into the cloud. Seth coughed and wheezed before feeling an impact and screaming in pain. Dave opened his fist and grabbed Craig.

"What… going on?" the teen moaned.

"I'm getting you out of here," Dave whispered. He recalled his brother-in-law's pokemon. "Try not to breathe the dust."

He ran out with Craig in his arms only to hear a girl cry, "DUCK!" He tucked and rolled as two purple arms swung and jumped back when a scorpion slammed her tail into the ground. The blow left a hole in the street.

"Drapion!" She yelled.

"This fight is over!" Dave shouted. "I have my brother-in-law! I don't care about you anymore!" He heard sirens in the distance and rolled his eyes.

"It's not over until I have answers! I know both of you from somewhere! Where?"

"I don't know!"

Seth glared at him and then at Beth, holding onto her father. "Let's see if she knows!"

"No, stop!"

"Drapion, rock tomb!"

Dave released one arm and flung open a pokeball. "Sludge bombs, Torkoal!" The instant Torkoal appeared, he launched large clumps of slime at the rocks. All but one rock fell. "Grrr! Hyper beam, quick!"

A blast of yellow energy blasted through the boulder, reduced it to dust, and blew away part of the Gerv's house. Mr. Gerv, Beth, and Shinx remained unharmed.

"Now, Drapion, while he's tired! Cross poison!"

Two slimy claws struck the turtle with very heavy force. Torkoal staggered back and launched a powerful flamethrower. The scorpion barely endured the blow and came in for another strike. Torkoal smiled and began a deep breath.

"Iron defense!" Dave shouted.

"Koal?" Torkoal turned at raised an eyebrow. While turned, the scorpion struck and landed him on his back.

"Damn it, Torkoal, listen to me! Rest!"

The scorpion dashed in as the turtle dozed off and began sleep eating. Drapion picked him up into the air.

"Gyro ball!"

Torkoal opened his eyes and tucked his limbs in his shell. He shot fire to spin himself, tangling Drapion's arms and striking her hard when she released him.

"Finish it with fire blast!"

A long, five pointed comet of fire blasted out of Torkoal's mouth and swept over Drapion. The scorpion collapsed, exhausted as Craig woke up and seven police cars arrived on the scene.

"What in blazes is going on here!" an old, strong sergeant yelled.

Craig saw the cops, saw the wreckage, and he began to panic. "Oh my god! D-!"

Dave clamped his hand over Craig's mouth as the Galactic raised an eyebrow. "Officers! That man…" he pointed at Seth. "…and his fellow terrorists attacked the people on this street and tried to kidnap my brother-in-law! I did my best to restrain him without harming people or property!"

Seth growled. "That's a lie! You only cared about the boy and his girlfriend! I saw your tactics, you cared less then I did!"

"That's the lie!" a man from one of the collapsed homes shouted. He held his bloody, broken arm as he spoke. "Those people in the white and black suites attacked Mr. Gerv!" He motioned his head toward his injured neighbor. "The boy fought back against them when they threatened him!" He looked at Dave. "Cared less than him, my rump! That guy in the green even tried to spare that bastard's pokemon!"

"Their sandstorm destroyed our house!"

"The man in white's earthquake collapsed ours! Please help, my wife is hurt!"

"They were going to blast our home with a hyper beam for no reason! The boy and his pokemon dove in the way and took the attack! Help him! That brave young man could be seriously injured!"

"I've heard enough!" the sergeant bellowed. "Men, get to work!"

Seth stepped back as the police went into action; helping the injured and releasing skuntanks to restrain the Galactic. "No! I am Seth Grands! I am a holy soldier for Team Galactic!"

"Tell it to the judge, bucko," one of the officers spat.

"The judge?" Seth's eyes twitched. "WHO ARE YOU HERETICS TO JUDGE ME?" He grabbed the ultraball on his belt. "IT IS I WHO WILL JUDGE YOU!" The stone pokemon appeared and used his wings to cause a massive earthquake.

As people, pokemon, and homes fell, Dave stood with his mouth agape. "…that pokemon."

Seth jumped onto the back off his aerodactyl as he flew into the sky. "…And I find you all, guilty!"

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**What is the meaning of Aerodactyl to Dave? Will the good people of Celestic Town survive? Stay tuned to find out.**

**Also, in case you were worried, this is not the final battle.  
**


	4. Leak

**Today we see the conclusion of the V. Seth battle. All eyes are in the sky as Charizard takes on the stone dinosaur.**

**---------------------------------------------------------  
**

Chapter 4: Leak

Chimchar sat in his trainer's lap as Tyler watched his mother. Flannery rested her elbows on their kitchen table with her fingers intertangled while her right foot tapped relentlessly on the warped wooden floor. The clock on the wall ticked and tocked; each passing second seemed to take hours. From across the table, the wide eyes of her son and his pokemon remained fixated.

Outside their house, her two macargoes rolled around, tucked inside their shells. Her camerupt and torkoal slept. Rapidash blew small embers at falling leaves and Ninetales sat on the roof, keeping a vigilant eye out for anyone approaching.

"Mommy?" Tyler rested his chin on Chimchar's head. "Why are you so mad at uncle Zack?"

"I'm not-!" She took a deep breath. "Sorry, sweetie. I'm not mad, I'm worried. He could get us all into a lot of trouble."

"All of us? Why?"

"Imchar, Im?"

"Your uncle got into a fight with some bad people and bad people do very mean things to not only you, but your whole family."

The phone rang.

"Why mommy?

Flannery hurried. "Some people are evil." She snatched the receiver. "Ploss residence!"

"Madeline? Thank God! This is Wendy Gerv!"

"What is it? Is Zack ok?"

"No! Some men are here and-!" A loud noise from Wendy's side drowned her out. "-your husband just-!" Static followed and lingered.

"Wendy? WENDY!"

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Tyler yelled.

Flannery threw on her coat and grabbed her pokeball belt. "We're going, now!"

"But-!"

"Now!" She yanked up her son and ordered Chimchar onto her shoulders. Flinging the back door open, she yelled to all of her pokemon and recalled all but Rapidash.

"Mommy, where are we going?"

She threw her son and Chimchar on before mounting the fire horse. "We are going to get Daddy and uncle Zack!" She kicked Rapidash and the pokemon burst into a full sprint. She whispered, "…and maybe have to leave here forever."

***

"_Dave, hand over those orbs."_

"_Why should I?"_

"_Because if you don't, I'm going to have to hurt you."_

_There was a long pause as Dave and Charizard hovered over the ocean and stared at the annoying boy, a pest of a trainer named Banov. The kid's brown eyes and brown seemed to add to the seriousness of his threat, which made Dave and Charizard laugh harder. He laughed so hard, the priceless red and blue orbs from Mt. Pyre almost fell out of his pocket._

_He zipped up the pouch on his jacket. "Do you… Really think I was going to hand them over with your petty threat?"_

"_No, I didn't expect you to. But you can't blame me for trying!" At that moment, the aerodactyl Banov rode gave a huge bust of speed and smacked Charizard. _

_The dragon gripped Aerodactyl's wings and let out a hasty flamethrower. The attack swept over trainer and pokemon. Banov and his pokemon shook off the attack. Before Charizard struck again, Aerodactyl released an ear-piercing screech. Dave and his pokemon fell back, but quickly recovered and attacked._

_Aerodactyl shot straight up when a stream of fire flew at him. He made a U-turn and dive-bombed back down. A roar and a fire blast stopped him in his tracks._

_The fire-comet hit and Charizard zoomed in, his claws aimed at Aerodactyl's neck. His foe's wing blocked the attack. The dragon, with a claw around Aerodactyl's wing, gave a snarl and rocketed up, pulling the dinosaur with him._

_Charizard grabbed his foe with both claws and then pulled him down. Then they swung up. Then back down. Again and again they spun in a wheel, going faster and faster until the dragon aimed down and gave a mighty thrash of his wings. The two shot towards the water._

_Aerodactyl released another ear-paining screech. It forced blood out of his foes' brains. The two yelled and the smooth descent turned into a tumble. Charizard let out a roar that made a crater in the water and pulled all four battlers up. _

_The stone dinosaur quickly struck with his wing and broke free. He snapped at the dragon's wing and dug his talons into the orange flesh. He then shot into the air, scratching with its spined tail as he flew. _

_Charizard snarled and released another roar. The dinosaur let loose a glass-shattering screech. In that moment, Charizard flew in an arc and got above him._

_Before his foe could chase, the dragon slammed him from his blind spot._

_Dave saw Banov whispering something to his pokemon and the dinosaur took off towards land. "Drawing me to land where you'll get an advantage? Why should I play along?" He grinned under his red hood. "Unlike you, I have no NEED for this fight. If you plan to leave me unattended like this, then I'll just make off with my prize!" He looked at Charizard. "If we can get these back to Wallace and Russell soon, they may still hold up their end of the deal. Our whole family'll be free."_

_Aerodactyl stopped as Charizard to flew in the direction of Mt. Chimney. The dinosaur remained hovering in the air. As his foes began to fade, Banov ordered a charge._

_Dave heard them approach. His dragon released a fire stream, but Aerodactyl curved straight up and dodged. The dinosaur U-turned again and shot down. _

"_Another dive-bomb? Well, this time it won't work. Charizard, move forward, but try to angle yourself up."_

_The dragon shot up at a steady angle, slowly gaining altitude as it left Aerodactyl's attack range. The dinosaur abandoned the attack and gave chase. _

"_Good, now use flamethrower; at will!" Dave's dragon fired randomly at his foe. Only some hit, but the need to dodge slowed the dinosaur._

"_Supersonic!" Out of his stone mouth came a constant, boggling noise. As Aerodactyl drew closer, the sound rattled Dave and his dragon's minds more and more._

"_Charizard, forget the upward angle! Just go straight forward, and focus everything on speed!"_

_The fire dragon shot forward. The stone pterodactyl continued. Aerodactyl angled up and down and side to side, keeping Charizard from escaping in any direction other than the ones Banov wanted. After a few moments, they reached forest-covered land._

"_Ah, so you pushed me here anyway. Pretty good. But I'm tired of running!" Charizard U-turned and dove straight into Aerodactyl. He smashed the dinosaur head first. As his foe staggered in the air, the dragon dove into the woods below. Once there, he blew a flamethrower that only scathed the dinosaur. Charizard glided to a different spot. Aerodactyl shot down for an earthquake._

_A flamethrower blew out of his mouth and struck Aerodactyl dead-on. The dinosaur pulled up and waved supersonic throughout the forest. Charizard flew throughout the woods, launching flamethrowers whenever he could. Each time, it drew the boy and the dinosaur's attention._

"_Damn that kid." Dave brought his pokemon to a halt as they hid in the thicket. He slowly took the orbs out of his pocket. He stared at them and his Charizard. "I'll surrender myself."_

"_Arizar?"_

"_No, I'm not confused," Dave laughed. "If I accept surrender on the condition you go free, you can fly these back to Mt. Chimney before he realizes I don't have them."_

_They covered their ears as a wave of supersonic passed over them._

"_Char! Charizard!"_

"_Now who's being crazy?" He shook his head. "We don't have time for honor! I swore to Flannery and Craig we'd do this!"_

"_Char! Charrrrr!"_

_Dave grabbed his pokemon's shoulders. "I never loved you! I never loved any of my pokemon! You never loved me! None of you did! You were all tools for me and I was the guiding hand for you! Now listen to me, you bonehead!"_

"_CHAR! CHAR! IZ! ARD!" His trainer smiled and sighed as another wave of supersonic assaulted them._

"_If you're in, then let's do it."_

_Dave pocketed the orbs and jumped on to Charizard's back. The duo shot out behind the dinosaur. Aerodactyl caught them and unleashed a high-pitched screech as the dragon let loose a primal roar. The two circled each other before slamming skull to skull._

_For ten whole seconds, they danced in the air, collided heads, drew back, danced, and collided again. Their flesh bled. Their skulls cracked. They continued. The assault lasted until both trainers ordered them to stop and descend. Dave aimed for the forest. Banov ordered an earthquake._

_The quake uprooted trees as it rippled through the forest and struck Charizard. The dragon flew up._

"_Charizard, flamethrower!"_

"_Aerodactyl, rock slide!"_

_Fire blasted down. Rocks shot up. Both missed, but only the rocks came back down. The stones rained from above and pummeled the dragon and his trainer. Aerodactyl shot into Charizard's gut then bit his leg. The dragon roared and knocked the stone beast back._

_Both pokemon hovered over the ground. Charizard zoomed forward, firing a fast-moving flamethrower. Aerodactyl shot up to avoid the flames, but Dave read his foe and Charizard struck as he curved up to follow._

_The two shot up with inches separating them. The fire dragon immolated his arm with blue dragon fire and threw it into his foe. Aerodactyl cried out until his trainer yelled, "Double-team!"_

_Suddenly, two Aerodactyls appeared and flew in opposite directions. Now high in the sky, the two mounted dinosaurs shot up and over Charizard. One dropped down and Charizard attacked him with a flamethrower. But the real one attacked with his talons before the blaze could hit the illusion. _

_The dragon fired a wide fire blast after the two. The attack swept over both revealing the true one and forced the dinosaur to make a dive-bomb attack. The dragon flew at him and lowered his head. Just before impact, Charizard strafed to the side and grabbed Aerodactyl's talons. With a heavy flap of his wings the dragon overpowered the dinosaur. They spun in circles before shooting straight down with Aerodactyl's head against Charizard's crotch._

_He threw the stone pokemon into the earth and glided some distance away before landing. Dinosaur and trainer lay motionless only for a moment before they rose again, hovering above ground weakly. All four sneered. The dinosaur opened his mouth and fired a large yellow beam._

_Charizard barely dodged the hyper beam and used the explosion to launch into air. From the tree-line he struck with a flamethrower. Aerodactyl let out a weak screech that blurred the dragon's vision. The dinosaur rushed forward and clawed into the dragon with his wings. Charizard snapped at the air aimlessly, hitting nothing._

_Aerodactyl bit into one of his wings and his vision cleared. Charizard blasted a flamethrower that hit dead-on. The dinosaur staggered above the ground. The dragon landed again and Dave hopped off. _

"_Charizard, fire spin!" The dragon made circles with his neck while releasing a stream of fire. Once the flames trapped their foes, Dave shouted, "Good. Now, use blast burn! Finish this!"_

_The orange fire dragon opened his mouth. Red and orange energy gathered into a ball. In the fire spin, the dinosaur could already feel the heat._

"_Aerodactyl, earthquake!" The dinosaur struck his head into the earth. The ripples knocked Charizard off balance and cracked several of Dave's bones. Dave screamed as a tiny sun flew over Aerodactyl and his trainer's heads._

_Dave dropped to his knees next to his dragon and gripped his broken ribs. The dinosaur flew out of the fire spin and hovered above the ground._

"_Are you finished?" Banov breathed heavily as he spoke._

"_No!" Dave shouted. He leapt onto Charizard's back, writhing as he landed._

"_You can't be serious."_

"_I am!"_

_Charizard rushed forward and ripped his claws into Aerodactyl. Dave cringed from his own attack. His foe fired a weak hyper beam that struck the dragon's chest._

"_Come on, Dave!"_

_Images of Flannery, Craig, and all of their pokemon flooded the mind of the Demon of Magma. "Blast burn!"_

_Charizard shot into the air. Suspended above his foe, he unleashed a gigantic ball of fire. The heat alone ignited the ground and the stone dinosaur desperately flew out of the way. Banov dodged the attack, but the air burned his pokemon as a huge bonfire erupted out of the earth._

_The fire dragon flew through the fire and attacked with his jaws and claws. Before Aerodactyl could react, Charizard darted back into the flames._

"_Use supersonic!" The dinosaur screeched at the fire. Two charizards emerged. _

_Twin dragons whizzed around the dinosaur and attacked. Aerodactyl spun like a windmill into the ground, spraying a barrage of rocks that dispersed the illusion and struck the real one._

_The stone dinosaur rushed forward and dug his wings into his foe. From point blank range, meters above the earth, Aerodactyl blasted a yellow beam that knocked Dave Scern and Charizard into unconsciousness._

"And I find you all guilty!" At those words, Aerodactyl shot back to the ground and caused another earth-shaking impact.

The skuntanks screamed and collapsed as more houses crumbled. People fell. Dave's body shot down into a split and leaned forward, using an arm for balance while the other held Craig. When the shockwaves passed, he dashed to the officers and their over-turned cars.

"Stop him, hurry!" He shook the injured sergeant.

"With what? We don't have the power to beat an aerodactyl!"

Seth flew down the street, spinning his dinosaur and knocking up sharp stones at the police officers. The sergeant pushed Dave and Craig out of the way as the stone edge collided with the vehicles and impaled several officers.

"No!" Craig shouted. His brother-in-law carried him to the Gerv's house as a news van pulled up behind the damaged squad cars.

"Sam, watch him!"

Aerodactyl rose into the sky, readying another attack.

"What are you going to do?" Mr. Gerv asked weakly.

Without giving a reply, Dave turned and ran into the street. He reached down to his belt and grabbed his forth and final pokeball. "We have to use physical attacks only." He could hear the complaints emanating from the ball. Aerodactyl dove in for a third earthquake. "Then we'll find a way! Go, Charizard!"

With a powerful roar the orange dragon emerged. The deafening sound made the stone dinosaur flinch in fear and abort his attack. Seth sneered at his pokemon. "Idiot! He's all bark!"

Dave mounted his pokemon. With a slow, powerful flap, Charizard rose and then sped into the air. "Steel wing!"

"Double-edge!"

Orange wings turned into metal and collided with the thick skull of the dinosaur. Aerodactyl continued forward. Charizard staggered back. The dinosaur spun around and struck the dragon with his stone wing. Aerodactyl flew up, U-turned, and went in for another attack.

Charizard let out a large cloud of smoke into his foe's path. The dinosaur and his trainer closed their eyes and wheezed when they flew threw it. The dragon darted up and shot into Aerodactyl.

"Brick break!"

The fire dragon wound up his short arm and swung. Aerodactyl quickly blocked with his wing and bit into Charizard's neck with electrified fangs. The dragon roared as his claws turned to metal. Acting fast, Charizard dug them into the dinosaur's neck and pulled him off.

High in the sky, they circled each other. Seth called out, "Whoever you are, you are no match for the holy strength of Team Galactic! Surrender now and my interrogation of you and your brother-in-law will be easy!"

Dave spat. "Holy strength? Let me guess, you terrorists have some noble cause!"

"We are not terrorists! We save this world while others destroy it! Others like you! Aerodactyl, double-edge!"

***

Down below, a rapidash arrived on the scene carrying a panicked mother with red hair and her brown-haired son. The fire horse hurried through a drove of people who stared up at the battle and past a slick-dressed news reporter and her camera man. She galloped over the destroyed road and towards the Gerv house.

Holding her son, the woman jumped down. "Zack! Oh my god, what happened?"

Beth held Craig up on the stoop of their destroyed home. "I don't know, Mrs. Ploss! One minute my dad…" She motioned her head to the man who sat clutching his chest next to a middle-aged woman with blonde hair. "…was telling Zack to get inside, the next minute those guys attacked him! They threatened Zack and- Mr. Ploss!"

Flannery, Tyler, Chimchar, and Rapidash immediately looked up at the battle. Charizard and Aerodactyl traded blows again and again with the stone dinosaur's strikes over powering the fire dragon's. People all around pointed and gasped as the news crew aimed a camera and the woman shouted the events as they happened.

Craig leaned on Beth and groaned, "Madeline, he's holding back, isn't he?"

Flannery nodded.

"What?" Beth almost fell backwards. "Why on Earth isn't he attacking with everything?"

Flannery gritted her teeth. "Just trust him!"

"Mommy, she's right! Daddy's losing!"

"Chim!" The fire monkey violently clapped his hands.

Zack squeezed his fist. "Vincent… needs us to do something! Can we give him a sunny day so he 'gets' a fire boost?"

Beth smiled. "That's a great idea! Yeah, he probably isn't using fire against a rock type because-!"

"No!" Flannery watched as Aerodactyl used aerial ace to deflect Charizard's iron tail. The dinosaur attacked with electrified fangs. "That wouldn't be enough! If he has to do this, it has to be done this way!"

Tears fell down Tyler's cheeks. "But, mommy…!"

"Chim! Chim chim!" Chimchar clapped harder. Energy formed in his palms.

Flannery grabbed her crying son. "Tyler, listen to me! Your father-!"

"Daddy's the bestest! We have to hewlp him!"

"Tyler!"

"Chim chim chim chim chimchimchimchim!" The energy grew.

"He needs our HEWLP!"

"CHIMCHAR!" The monkey launched a blue bolt into the sky.

***

Charizard recovered from the last wing attack and followed it with a body slam. The dinosaur dodged and cut into his skin with stone talons. At the end of his tail, the fire grew larger.

"Your pokemon is weak!" Seth ordered Aerodactyl to hover above Dave and Charizard. "Whoever you are, it doesn't matter if you die! You are unworthy of being noticed by Team Galactic! Aerodactyl, finish this with a good double-edge!"

Aerodactyl shot towards Charizard as the dragon braced himself. At that second, a blue bolt struck the fire pokemon and his muscles bulked.

Dave's eyes widened. "Helping hand… FIRE BLAST!"

At point blank, a mammoth star erupted from the dragon. The blaze engulfed his foe and blasted him away.

***

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?"

"We hewlped him, mommy!" Tyler and Chimchar jumped up and down. "We hewlped him!"

***

Surrounded by a crowd, a woman with neck-length dark green hair spoke into the camera. "This is amazing! At the last moment, the man with the charizard used a fire blast that caught the terrorist by complete surprise! Was that his plan all along?"

Screams came from the crowd. "Oh my god! The terrorist and his aerodactyl survived and are attacking!"

***

Seth rode Aerodactyl in for another strike. "You won't surprise me again!"

Charizard sneered. He swooped out of the way and fired off a huge flamethrower as he flew. The dinosaur couldn't stop and went directly into the blaze. Seth and his pokemon turned their heads. As they endured the blaze, Dave and Charizard flew above them. Dragonic energy formed in the fire pokemon's throat.

The Galactic looked around hastily. "Where are they? Where are they hid-!" Charizard's dragon pulse cut him off. Seth and Aerodactyl screamed.

Dave glanced around the town below. "Impact point? Where's a good impact point?" His eyes stopped at the ancient crater. But it lay outside their landing range. "Let's get them that way!" Charizard nodded.

The dragon's arm glowed with a multi-colored dragon fire and dove in. The dinosaur spun and folded his wings to shield himself but the flaming claw pushed through his defenses. The flames spread over the dinosaur as Charizard drove his claw deeper and deeper. Aerodactyl braved the fire and bit down with electricity. Charizard pulled back.

"YOU'RE MAKING ME MAD!" Seth bared his teeth.

With a smirk and a wave, Charizard folded in his wings and plummeted feet first.

"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY! GIGA IMPACT!" Aerodactyl took a deep breath and pushed into a dive-bomb.

The dinosaur closed in. Moment by moment the distance between them shrunk. Seth laughed like a psychotic while Dave wore an evil grin.

"Fire spin! Trap him!" The orange dragon spun his neck in circles as he unleashed fire. The spiral trapped his foe in a blazing tunnel.

"THIS CANNOT STOP A HOLY SOLDIER!"

"Now!" Charizard continued the fire spin as he opened his wings and slowed drastically.

Aerodactyl staggered left and right as the tunnel's walls shifted. The dragon soared all around him, twisting his head as he flew. The dinosaur found himself trapped in a sphere of fire.

"AN AERIAL FIRE SPIN? IMPOSSIBLE!"

Charizard flew several yards away and took in the sunlight. His body glowed a greenish-yellow. At Dave's order, a solarbeam blasted out of his mouth and into the sphere. The attack rocketed the dinosaur out of the fire and over the crater.

***

As the beam knocked the dinosaur above the crater, several officers, the on-lookers, and the news crew hurried to ground zero. Flannery picked up her excited son and his ecstatic chimchar and handed them to Wendy. "Please take them home." Her friend nodded as Flannery whispered to her brother. "Stay at home. Don't answer anyone's questions until we get there. Not even the police's."

Craig nodded slowly. His sister leapt onto Rapidash and sped off towards the battle.

***

"Seismic toss!"

The fire dragon flew right above the stone dinosaur and grabbed his talons in his claws. Charizard locked his mighty legs around his foe's neck, pinning Seth's body between both pokemon and the Galactic's head against his crotch. The dragon flew up. Then down. Then up. Then down.

Charizard flew faster and faster until he reached the apex of his speed and dive-bombed. Aerodactyl flapped wildly, but the dragon's knees on his wing joints stopped their movements. As the air rushed by Seth, he struggled in vain for his last pokeball. In the next moment, Charizard threw his foe into the crater and pulled up. Aerodactyl belly-flopped into the earth and immediately passed out.

Seth limped across the ground. His broken bones caused him agony with every move he made.

Above the Galactic, Dave and Charizard swooped down and landed at the edge of the decline. An audience of policemen, civilians, and a news crew arrived some distance behind them and surrounded the large hole. The ex-Magma and his dragon glared solely at their foe as he slowly recalled Aerodactyl and grabbed the final pokeball on his belt. Out of the sphere emerged a small white person with a green hat with two red protrusions.

"Ralts…" Seth weakly gripped the small pokemon. "…use…"

"Fire spin!"

Before the Galactic could react, he and his ralts found themselves trapped in a spiral of fire.

***

"Faster, Rapidash!" The fire horse bolted faster when her trainer saw Dave's audience. Flannery watched the seismic toss. She heard the order for a fire spin. She took a deep breath and yelled out for him.

***

"Charizard!" Their target began to shake and hyperventilate. "Finish this with blast-!"

Seth's face turned pale.

"VINCENT!"

Dave immediately tensed. His eyes darted around the crater's edge. Faking injury, he threw his right arm over his left rib and gritted his teeth. "…A blast of… fire…"

Seth chuckled. Charizard launched a fire blast just as the fire spin ended. The Galactic grabbed Ralts and dodged in the knick of time. Then he stood up and laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed. He could feel his body crying out but he kept laughing. Dave, Charizard, and everyone around the crater stared at him with raised eyebrows and puzzled expressions.

"Alts! Ralts!" The chirping of his pokemon brought Seth back to reality.

"Flamethrower!"

Seth threw down a smokeball. "Teleport!"

The flames blew away the gas cloud to reveal nothing. A few able-bodied police officers made their way down to explore the area. Dave sighed and remained above with his arm holding his left rib. The crowd around him kept dead quiet, even when he slowly turned around.

Dave and Charizard jumped when they saw the crowd staring. The dragon lowered himself and spread his wings. The ex-Magma readied his legs to leap onto his pokemon. They both examined the audience left and right as they forced their breathing to keep steady. Then, the crowd reacted.

Everyone cheered. Roars of praise and screams of honors echoed up and down the crowd. Trainer and pokemon relaxed their bodies and looked at each other. Dave shrugged his shoulders. Charizard shrugged his. People all around closed in on the duo and began shaking their hands and patting their backs.

"Excuse me!" A sharply dressed woman with neck-length dark green hair pushed her way through the crowd. Behind her, a large man holding a camera and a microphone followed. 'SSN' lay written on both objects. "Move! Hey, out of my way! Watch those hands, bucko!" The woman made her way through the masses and to Dave.

She fixed her hair and grabbed the microphone. "Sir, I'm Shanice Branson and this is my cameraman, Jess Navillon. We're with the local branch of the Sinnoh News Network. Can you tell us a little about who you are and what happened up there?"

The crowd hushed as Shanice brought the mike to Dave's mouth. He smiled and shook his head. The reporters face turned pale.

"Um… are you sure you don't feel like commenting? There are a lot of people who would love to know about what just took place." Her voice became louder. "Maybe a loved one who wants to make sure you're alright?"

Dave remained silent as he and Charizard made their way through the crowd. He kept his hand on his rib as they found their way to a red haired woman beside a rapidash. With tears in her eyes, the woman ran forward, threw her arms around him, and kissed him. The crowd around them applauded as Shanice and Jess tried to follow.

"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen!" Shanice clenched her fist out of the camera's view. "The silent, modest hero is rewarded with a kiss from his beloved!"

Flannery cupped her hands over Dave's ear and whispered, "Keep smiling as I'm talking." She kept a warm expression on her face. "Do you have any idea what could happen now? Tyler could be taken away from us." Her husband kept a smile and playfully nodded his head. "We are going up now."

Dave laughed as Flannery pulled back and recalled Rapidash. With flirtatious looks, he picked her up wedding style and climbed on to Charizard. The crowd stepped back as the fire dragon gave huge slow flaps of his wings before lifting off the ground and flying off.

"And now they leave us!" Shanice could feel her blood boiling. "It's a wonder to everyone who they are!" She began to move her hand to give a signal, but a voice from the crowd stopped her.

"I know who he is!" The large crowd, Jess, and Shanice all turned to a modestly-dressed man with grey hair and a moustache. He leaned back and glanced around before saying, "His… uh… name is Vincent Ploss and that was his wife, Madeline. The guy's an independent metallurgist. He works in a shack up in the mountains. I must say, I never knew he could battle like that."

Shanice pushed her way up to him. "Why is it up in the mountains?"

"He says it's so he doesn't have to pay for zoning and business taxes. The town can't tax what's not in its boundaries."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about him?"

The man rubbed his chin. "He works with his wife and lives with her, their son, and her brother. They manage their business out of their home. That's where I always call to place an order. They like to be paid in cash. This sounds very sketchy, I know, but one cannot blame them. Their business is very small and they do not have much money. They probably want to deposit their payments right away for every cent of interest."

The report gave a sly smile. "Thank you very much for your input, Mr…"

"Mr. Kennedy. Think nothing of it. It is a gentleman's duty to support one who has helped his own business." He gave a small laugh. "For his status, that man is quite blessed to have pokemon and a family like that."

Shanice turned back to Jess with a much wider, slier smile. "…And THERE you have it, ladies and gentlemen! This modest, salt of the earth family man is now the hero of the town! I only hope that we can all have another chance to learn more about him and how he found the strength and courage to save the day!" Below the camera's view, she gave a sliding motion with her hand. Jess cut the feed.

"We've waited a long time for something like this to come along." He lowered his camera.

"Yeah." Shanice handed him the mike. "And I can tell there's more to this than meets the eye. I'll find it out, though. I'll do anything for a good story."

***

Arcanince howled. A recovered houndoom howled. Charizard and Torkoal shot flamethrowers. Dave cringed.

"YOU IDOIT! YOU MORON! YOU STUPID, IGNORANT, PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUSBAND! DID YOU THINK AT ALL ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN? IF YOU HAD USED BLAST BURN, EVERYONE WOULD HAVE ALREADY FIGURED IT OUT!"

Dave slowly looked up at his wife as she stared at him across the room of his metallurgy shack. He felt a knot in his stomach at the sight of her red, contorted, and tearful face. "Flannery, I-."

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! WE COULD LOOSE EVERYTHING! WHAT ABOUT 'ONLY USE CHARIZARD'S PHYSICAL ATTACKS' CONFUSED YOU? "

"We won't lose anything!"

"Oh, we won't!" she mocked. She pulled a random pokeball off her belt and looked at it. "You hear that? Dave says we won't lose anything! And since Dave said it, I GUESS THAT MEANS IT'S TRUE! BECAUSE HE'S NEVER LIED TO ME!"

"FLANNERY!" He caught her shoulders. "I don't know where that helping hand came from, but it's a reason for Charizard's strength and it's _the_ reason I survived! Put it in with blaze… it'll be enough!" Dave sighed. "If that hadn't happened, I would have died before using fire blast. And that double-edge would have killed me. You have to believe me. The only reason I used his special attacks was because I saw an excuse for his power."

His wife looked at him. The redness and contortions left. "It was from Chimchar." She threw her arms around him and held him tight. "Oh god, it was from our son's chimchar and I tried to stop him! If he had listened to me, you would be dead! I'm sorry, Dave! I… I'm so sorry!"

Dave held her tight as she cried into his shoulder. He let her tears soak into his jacket before saying, "I love you, Mrs. Flannery Scern."

She pulled her head up and wiped away her tears. "I love you too, Mr. Dave Scern."

They leaned in and shared a passionate kiss that held even as they moved into the back room where a worn cot lay.

***

Miles east of the stone shack above Celestic Town, in a secret base under _The Café Cabin_, Seth Grands continued his laugh as he deposited his last pokemon into the regeneration mechanism. "I knew I knew them! I knew I knew them!"

Alone in the hideout, he pulled himself, crude casts and all, to the base's computer. "Contact Commander Mars!" he laughed. While the signal linked up, Seth forced himself to cease his laughter. He settled for wearing an incessant smile.

A woman with wavy red hair appeared on the monitor. "High Grunt Seth Grands!" He smiled through her rage. "How dare you show your face! You completely disobeyed orders and abandoned your squad! You showed incompetence in a battle where you had the clear upper-hand! And you have ruined Team Galactic's reputation in the Mid-North of Sinnoh! I should have you executed for this! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Without dropping his grin, he replied, "Commander Mars, I request the Orion Squad."

Her eyes widened. "How dare you! You insignificant worm! You have ten seconds before I order the hunters to kill you! Ten! Nine!"

"Ten seconds…?" Seth raised an eyebrow.

"Eight! Seven!"

"I only need six words." He crossed his arms.

"Six! Five!"

"Dave Scern is in Celestic Town."

"… Go on."

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**I have to credit a friend of mine, banov, as the flashback fight was from his fic. I just changed some things and cleaned up the writing.**

**For those of you who didn't like the lack of bad things in this flashback, fear not. The next chapter has the darkest, vilest, most horrible event in Dave's life shown. You WILL NOT want to miss it.  
**


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